Crucible cradle assembly



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CRUCIBLE CRADLE ASSEMBLY Filed NOV. 25, 1964 2 SheeLSSheet l INVENTOPUS Myra/7 hf Goa/a July 11, 1967 H. GOULD ETAL CRUCIBLE. CRADLE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 25, 1964 Myron H. Goa/cl BY ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,330,430 CRUCIBLE CRADLE ASSEMBLY Myron H. Gould, Easton, and Carl Horvath, Fairfield, Conn., assignors to Burndy Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 412,900 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-318) This invention pertains to a cradle assembly for carrying heavy containers, and more particularly to a pouring cradle for supporting crucibles containing molten metal so that they may be transported from one place to another and then conveniently tilted over for pouring.

In relatively small scale foundry operations, heat-resistant crucibles of refractory material approximately two to three feet in height and one and a half to two feet in diameter are commonly used. For various reasons these crucibles are generally tapered in shape so as to have a maximum cross sectional diameter near the mid point of their height. It is common practice to transport them from the melting furnace to a pouring location by means of a carrier having a pivotally mounted horizontal ring which engages the tapered portion beneath the area of maximum cross section and permits lifting a crucible without additional support. Transporting the crucibles in this manner requires that they be lifted off a supporting base, generally by means of a pair of gripping tongs, and deposited within the ring.

When dealing with such relatively brittle refractory crucibles which may be filled with several hundred pounds of high-temperature molten metal, the above-described prior art procedure has been found to be diflicult, extremely dangerous, and highly inefiicient.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a cradle assembly having a cage device into which a crucible may be loaded simply and efficiently for convenient handling.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a crucible cradle assembly which will provide effective support for preventing structural failure of a crucible due to the weight of the contained molten metal.

Still another object of this invention isthe provision of a device of the type described having an automatic locking means for preventing accidental release of the crucible.

These and other objects of this invention and the new and unusual features by which they are achieved, are more particularly pointed out and described in the attached specification, claim and drawings, in which latter:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a crucible holding cage and a crucible pick-up platform arranged in accordance with this invention. The cage is shown in its open position, with the closed position being represented in phantom view;

FIG. 2 is a-slightly enlarged top plan view of the cage of FIG. 1 in closed position;

FIG. 3 is a pictorial representation of a hanger bracket used in conjunction with the illustrated cage device;

FIG. 4 is a slightly enlarged, partial front elevation view of a crucible, holding cage, and pick-up stand disposed in initial pick-up position in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 4A is a front elevation view illustrating the complete cage pivot element shown partially at the right of FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the crucible and cage device of FIG. 4 separated from the pick-up stand.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the cage device employed in the cradle assembly of this invention may be seen to comprise generally a crucible encircling means formed by two half-sections and 12 which are pivotally attached to each other at 14 and are provided with latching means such as latching pin 16 for securing the two half-sections against mutual relative motion.

A supporting tongue 18 is substantially fixedly mounted to the half-section 10 by means of a bracket such as 20, in position to engage and support the bottom of a crucible enclosed Within the encircling means (as shown for example, in FIG. 5). An auxiliary support bracket 22 having a laterally extending lower lip 24 may be coupled to the other half-section 12 to provide additional support for the free end of cantilevered supporting tongue 18 when the two half-sections 10, 12 are disposed in closed position. Supporting the crucible in this manner has been found to substantially reduce structural failures of the crucible sides and bottom such as are commonly induced by the prior art devices.

Coupled to the half-section 10 by means of flange assemblies 26 and 28 are a pair of diametrically aligned and oppositely extending pivot shafts 30, 32 which are adapted to be seated in the pivot saddles 34, 36 of a hanger bracket shown generally at 38 in FIG. 3. The hanger bracket in turn allows the entire cage device to be readily lifted and carried by an overhead hoist (not shown) or similar lifting mechanism.

In practice, a crucible 40 which is to be carried by the cradle assembly of this invention is placed on a pick-up stand such as lift piston 42. Piston 42 is typical of part of the type of hydraulic mechanism (not shown) which is commonly used to raise and lower crucibles in a toploading furnace. The piston has been provided with a slot 44 extending through one edge thereof for laterally receiving the crucible supporting tongue 18. The proper position of the crucible 40 over the slot 44 for the pick-up procedure is illustrated by the dot-dash circle outline 40A shown in FIG. 1.

To load the crucible into the cage the entire assembly is moved into the relative position shown in FIG. 1; that is: the half-sections 10 and 12 are unlatched and extended to their open position and crucible bottom supporting tongue 18 is aligned with the central axis of slot 44. The

entire cradle assembly, comprising the cage end bracket is then moved toward the crucible in a direction parallel to the axis of slot 44 until half-section 10 engages and partially encircles the crucible. Finally, half-section 12 is moved to its closed position and latched to complete encirclement. As the cage is subsequently lifted away from pick-up stand 42 the crucible 40 will be carried along by bottom support 18 and will be maintained in upright position by the encircling half-sections.

To further steady and position the crucible within the cage a plurality of bumper blocks 47 (shown most clearly in FIG. 2) and/or a crucible lip hook 48 may be provided. The hook 48 may be arranged to merely slide along the vertical shaft on which it is shown mounted, or the shaft may be threaded and provided with a suitable wing nut (not shown) to hold the hook against the crucible. Bumper blocks 47 aid in centering and retaining a crucible in position within the cage and permit adaptation of a single cage to a range of crucible sizes. Further, the blocks may be made of heat insulating material to isolate a crucible from the cage structure and thereby reduce heat losses due to conduction.

Reinforcing elements 70 which aid in supporting cantilevered tongues 18 and 24 may also be shaped as shown to engage the lower portion of the crucible as additional positioning means.

The completed cage device is preferably dimensioned so that the common central axis through pivot shafts 30 and 32 is somewhat above the center of gravity of the combined cage and filled crucible. Distributing the combined weight in this manner assures that the loaded cage will maintain the filled crucible in upright position in the a absence of unbalanced external forces. To facilitate tilting of the cage about the pivot axles 30, 32 in order to pour molten metal from the crucible, a tilt-handle assembly 46 may be provided. As may be seen most clearly in FIG. 4, the handle assembly 46 of this embodiment is coupled to a lower extension of the flange 28 by means of bolts 48; it is clear however that other arrangements may be made.

To prevent inadvertent tilting of the hanger when it is suspended in the bracket 38, a locking yoke 45 may be provided on the bracket for engaging the tilt handle 46. The yoke 45 is pivotally attached to the vertical arm of saddle 34 so that it may be lifted up and out of engagement with handle 46 to permit tilting and pouring opera tions in the normal manner. This illustrated mechanism provides a simple and yet highly effective means for locking the hanger device against tilting relative to hanger bracket 38, but other arrangements may be devised to afford equivalent results.

Referring again to FIG. 4 the flange assemblies 26 and 28 on half-section 10 may be seen to perform several functions in addition to those previously discussed herein. In particular, they may be seen to cooperate with a pair of corresponding projecting flanges 50 and 52 which are mounted on half-section 12. Flange 50 is pierced by a through hole adapted to receive pivot bolt 54 which pivotally couples it to flange 26 and provides for the pivotal motion necessary to open and close the half-sections.

Flanges 28 and 52 may similarly be seen to be provided with corresponding holes, which are aligned when the half-sections are in their closed position, to receive locking pin 16. Locking pin 16 when disposed in the aligned holes in both flanges, serves as one means for securing the two half-sections in their closed position, as has previously been described herein.

As may be seen mostly clearly in FIGS. 1 and 2, projecting flange 52 on half-section 12 may further be provided with an extension handle element 56 which greatly facilitates movement of the half-section 12 in opening and closing the encircling means. Handle 56 also serves the additional important function described immediately below.

Weighted detent arm 60 which may be seen to be pivotally coupled to flange 28 at axis 62, cooperates with extension arm 56 to perform an automatic latching function which constitutes an important feature of this invention. Detent arm 60 is dimensioned so that when it is in its substantially vertical position (shown by the dot-dash 7 line in FIG. its weight tends to maintain it in upright position. Thus, referring again to FIG. 5, the center of gravity of the upright detent arm 60 acts along a line extending vertically downward somewhat to the left of pivot axis 62, tending to rotate the arm in a counterclockwise direction. Counterclockwise rotation of the arm about the axis 62 is limited by the stop element 64 to hold the detent arm in the desired upright position. It may be seen however, that almost immediately upon clockwise rotation of the cage about the axis through shafts 30, 32, in order to pour metal from crucible 40, the line of force through the center of gravity of the arm 60 will shift to the right of axis 62, and the arm will rotate under the force of its own weight into latched engagement with arm 56 as shown in FIG. 5. Since arm 56 is coupled through flange 52 to half section 12, and arm 60 is coupled through flange 28 to half section 10, it is apparent from the configuration illustrated, that arms 60 and 56 cooperate to perform a secure, automatic latching 4 function which tightly holds the two half-sections 10, 12, against accidental separation. It is further apparent that the movable detent arm 60 may be manually operated for selectively latching or unlatching the half-sections in lieu of previously described locking pin 16.

To facilitate secure, automatic latching of arm 60 to arm 56 the two arms may be provided with cooperating bevel portions 68 and 58 respectively. These provide a camming action which urges half-section 12 toward halfsection 10 as arm 60 moves into latching position in a clockwise direction, and then allows arm 56 to relax back into the detent notch 66 which is provided in the leading edge of arm 60 adjacent bevel 68. Unlatching may be accomplished by manually pressing arm 56 toward halfsection 10 far enough to allow arm 60 to be raised to its vertical position.

The invention has thus been described but it is desired to be understood that it is not confined to the particular forms or usages shown and described, the same being merely illustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit of the invention; therefore, the right is broadly claimed to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appendent claim, and by means of which objects of this invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to obtain these objects and accomplish these results.

We claim:

A cradle assembly for receiving and tiltably supporting crucibles and like containers, comprising: crucible encircling means including a first half-section and arsecond half-section movably coupled to each other; said half-sections being relatively movable between an open position adapted to partially receive a crucible within one of said sections, and a closed position wherein said sections together substantially encircle the periphery of said crucible; crucible bottom support means mounted in sub stantially fixed relationship to one of said half-sections and adapted to be moved into position beneath a crucible. by movement in a direction substantially transverse to the central longitudinal axis thereof; carrying means coupled to said encircling means and including a pair of pivot elements arranged to permit lifting and subsequent tilting of said encircling means about a pouring axis substantially transverse to the central longitudinal axis of a crucible supported within said cradle; and releasable latching means for securing the half-sections of said encircling means in said closed position, said latching means including a weighted, pivotally-mounted detent arm coupled to said encircling means and positioned to fall under the influence of gravity, from an unlatched position into a latched position, as said encircling means is tilted about said pouring axis.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,226,653 5/ 1917 Goldberg 2282 1,553,349 9/ 1925 Sklovsky 2282 2,458,141 1/ 1949 Bromley 2282 2,820,999 l/ 1958 Meltzer et al. 2282 3,010,175 11/ 1961 Shoemaker 249-45 I. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner. R. D. BALDWIN, Assistant Examiner, 

